That’s right, with the close approaching deadline date of table games at the Casino. The Rivers Casino has called in consultants in order to teach it’s employees all the various ways a player can cheat at cards.
Not only did they bring in a consultant, but this consultant is a magician, a magician that was the hand double for George Burns in the movie, “Oh, God!” Entertaining right? Could this possibly be a joke? Not in the slightest. George Joseph, a magician turned consultant who can change a blackjack hand of 14 into a winning 21 without taking a hit and who can switch a pair of dice with the innocent wave of an arm. Is on the job and he’s ready to talk about how cheaters are finding out advanced ways to beat the dealer at table games.
“It’s sort of always a cat and mouse game. The bad guys come up with some way to steal or cheat and we find out about it. We prosecute it and then we change our policy, procedure or equipment to accommodate the scam,” he said.
“I’m the first to admit that the bad guys are many times — not always, but many times — ahead of the casinos.”
Mr. Joseph, a former surveillance director for major Las Vegas gambling venues, is working with the state Gaming Control Board to try to make sure that doesn’t happen in Pennsylvania. He runs George Joseph’s Worldwide Casino Consulting.
He is conducting five week-long sessions throughout the state to help train casino workers, state police officers and gaming board employees on ways to watch for cheating when table games make their debut July 8 at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh and The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County, where he was Thursday.
The Rivers Casino
This is something that I’m highly intrigued in. If you’ve ever seen the movie “21,” you get an inside look at the fast track to success(even if itis magnified to movie form). Cheaters in Pittsburgh though? You bet, and George had this to say about the influx of new people checking out the Casino.
“No doubt, no doubt, only because every other jurisdiction who’s ever opened … has had attempted cheating, has had the same bad guys make the rounds and show up in their casinos,” he said. “So we can expect to see it here.”
Mr. Joseph said casino scams can range from the simple to sophisticated. Some people simply will try to illegally add to their bet if they have a winning hand or try to remove part of their bet if it’s a poor one. At the craps table, some cheaters will try to put their bet down after the roll of the dice or try to confuse the dealer in the amount they have bet.
Card counting has become more popular, particularly with the explosion of Internet sites dedicated to the technique, he said.
It’s just amazing what people will do to try and swindle a little extra cash out of something. I couldn’t imagine even thinking about doing something like this. It’s just crazy that a ton of people have tried to do it, and people could be so good at it that they haven’t even been caught yet. All I know, is that when the table games at the Casino do arrive, I will be highly skeptical of the cost to even play.
Information used from: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10169/1066446-28.stm
Fri, Jun 18, 2010
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